‘These are our resources’: Alta. premier exerts control over oilsands

EDMONTON – Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach says the federal government’s plans to regulate greenhouse gases in the oilsands will be welcomed by his government, but he made it clear they must not forget Alberta is the owner of the resource.

His comment comes as some Alberta Conservative leadership candidates have expressed concerns that the federal government may use environmental issues as an avenue to seize control of oilsands development.

But Stelmach said it’s “very clear in the Constitution that these are our resources.”

“If the federal government wants to assist and support the province in environmental monitoring, the door is open,” he told the Calgary Herald. “But the resources belong to Albertans.”

Stelmach was responding to federal Environment Minister Peter Kent’s announcement earlier this month that he plans to introduce environmental regulations for the oilsands sector designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming and climate change.

The Alberta premier pointed out Alberta has been active on the environmental front and is the only jurisdiction in North America with a levy on carbon emissions.

But Stelmach was cautious in his reaction to a news report that senior federal bureaucrats are suggesting to the Harper government that a proposed pipeline to carry bitumen to the West Coast is not required.

Stelmach said Energy Minister Ron Liepert will follow up with federal Energy Minister Joe Oliver to check the veracity of that report.

“If it has been torqued, we’ll know that and if there’s some misinformation, we’ll certainly correct the information,” he said. “We’ll definitely keep working with the minister.”

He noted that a joint panel has been selected to hear the pipeline application and “things are moving in a positive direction.”

But several of the leadership candidates vying for Stelmach’s job expressed alarm over the suggestion the pipeline isn’t needed and over the federal government’s proposed intrusion into environmental regulation of the oilsands.

Oilman Rick Orman, a former cabinet minister in the Don Getty Conservative government, warned the federal government could be planning to use its shared responsibility for environmental issues to grab control of Alberta’s bitumen resources.

“If they are intent on trying to seize control, they will do it through the environment,” said Orman. “It was tried in the past through export taxes and trying to control prices. Now I think it will be tried through the environment. The next leader of this province will have to be very vigilant in watching Ottawa.”

Orman said he hoped Alberta can work in collaboration with the federal Conservatives under Prime Minister Stephen Harper to bolster environmental protections without hurting Alberta’s economy.

“We’re cousins on the political side,” he noted. “I just hope they look to what is in the best interests of all Canadians, including Albertans, and not just at what’s in the best interest of Central Canada.”

Orman and other provincial Tory leadership candidates suggested Alberta has to take a much more assertive approach to promoting the benefits of the oilsands to the country at large and a better job of demonstrating its efforts to protect to the environment while developing the lucrative resource.

“I think we’ve been playing defence too long on oilsands development and I think it’s time to play offence,” he said.

Alison Redford, who released her energy policy last week, says it falls to the premier to defend Alberta against federal encroachment.

“The reason the feds have felt entitled to do it is because the province has not been as bold in telling our story as it needs to be,” she said. “We have to be bolder on the national stage.”

Doug Horner echoed the concerns of Stelmach, saying he didn’t have any problem working with the federal government on oilsands environmental regulation providing it’s stressed that Alberta owns the resource.

“As such we would approach any discussion with that being the first point of understanding,” he said.

Doug Griffiths says Alberta should remind the federal government of the many initiatives already underway to protect the environment in the oilsands region.

“I would encourage the federal government not to give in to the ploys of environmental organizations that are funded by American oil companies to try to restrict our market,” Griffiths said.

He urged the province to fight back more aggressively against the claim that oilsands oil is dirty.

“It’s very clean, very ethical oil and it’s not blood-soaked,” he said, referring to the violent regimes of some oil-producing nations.

Gary Mar, who represented Alberta in Washington, said Alberta’s oilsands actually have a lot of support from the American public, but he stressed that Alberta needs a pipeline to move bitumen and crude to the West Coast.

“If there’s one thing better than having one really good customer for your product, it’s having two or more customers for your products,” he said. “For anyone to suggest we don’t need infrastructure to move our products, to me is patently wrong.”